The parts I ordered about a month ago have started trickling in. Nothing for my December project, but some of the extras.

Such as this CPU chip used in a NES.

I haven't had the time to finish my homework on RAM and Flash Memory, so I wont be using this._________________Mike Kasprzak
'eh whatever. I used to make AAA and Indie games | Ludum Dare | Blog | Tweetar

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Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 9:45 am Post subject:

Unfortunately I never got around to my project. End of last year, I ended up working on my new non-Ludum Dare project instead.

* * *

That said, a recently did a small gig. I wrote some of the binding code that lets you use these

Along the top I added what I'm calling an expansion connector, so I can add a buzzer.

I don't actually know what values mean wet or dry yet, so I'm going to leave it as-is for a few days, and watch._________________Mike Kasprzak
'eh whatever. I used to make AAA and Indie games | Ludum Dare | Blog | Tweetar

After I turned off the camera, I actually nudged the sensor (pushed it slightly deeper), and the value dropped to under 200. So clearly there's a bit of playing I need to do with the probes themselves to find the right way to use them._________________Mike Kasprzak
'eh whatever. I used to make AAA and Indie games | Ludum Dare | Blog | Tweetar

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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2016 1:23 pm Post subject:

Haha, not even 1 week later, my probes have corroded/dissolved to the point there's no metal left on one side. Oops!

And yes, that was probably the side I was running a voltage though. Hehe.

Ah well, it was a fun project. I enjoyed it while it lasted. Proud of what I did, but clearly I need better probes. Probes that can actually take contact moisture.

Scientifically speaking these were resistive probes, probes that measured the resistance of current through the soil (water/moisture being the conductor). The fix is either to switch to a better fully-metal probe (i.e. a pair of nails), or a capacitive probe (one that effectively creates a capacitor by using the water as a dielectric). Fun fun._________________Mike Kasprzak
'eh whatever. I used to make AAA and Indie games | Ludum Dare | Blog | Tweetar

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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 1:38 pm Post subject:

I'm trying to find a way to make circuit boards w/o a chemicals or making a big mess.

I was suggested this recently:

Seems a decent option, using photo paper in a laser printer (likely to act as a shiny low adhesive surface). I'll have to check on my liquid solder, see what the melt temperature is._________________Mike Kasprzak
'eh whatever. I used to make AAA and Indie games | Ludum Dare | Blog | Tweetar

Water sensor for the plants? What happened to the age old "take a look at the soil" method? Only sensor you need is eyeballs.

Joking aside, pretty neat. You could hook that up to an auto-watering system and be plant-stress free. :]_________________loomsoft :]

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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 4:48 am Post subject:

I have a pump and tubing, so I could make an auto watering system. But again, I need a better/moisture resistant probing solution._________________Mike Kasprzak
'eh whatever. I used to make AAA and Indie games | Ludum Dare | Blog | Tweetar

PoVModeratorJoined: 21 Aug 2005
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 2:58 pm Post subject:

Good use of solder-mask. I totally want to do this (i.e. art on a board).

The key thing to understand is you have 4 colors (5 if you're willing to pay for it):

It was just a bare computer, but he wanted a case, so I 3d printed him a case. Because I'm the cruel brother, I decided he was getting a bright pink case. ;). Took about 4 hours to print the case (2 parts, top and bottom).

Case just snaps together, no screws required, but it's a tight fit. You need a putty knife to open it.

This board lacks a sound jack and speaker, but we want to be able to make noise. So I wired up a Piezo Buzzer to one of the GPIO (general purpose IO) pins, and hacked together a super simple reference program that beeps.

(Video in the link above. me SSH'ing in to the computer and running my script)

Anyway, it's ready to go. My part is done. It's a tiny Linux computer with a USB port that can make an annoying beep. All it needs is Ethernet and Power.

Ignoring labour/power costs, a mere $20 for everything._________________Mike Kasprzak
'eh whatever. I used to make AAA and Indie games | Ludum Dare | Blog | Tweetar

PoVModeratorJoined: 21 Aug 2005
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2017 1:00 am Post subject:

Interesting. It looks like I finally got serious about Electronics two and a half years ago. Mind you, I say serious, but I don't put a lot of time into it. Serious enough that I feel like I have an actual decent understanding now. Not enough to make anything really cool yet, but I feel like I have some fundamentals now.

Looking back at some of my posts in the thread, I noticed the badge project I was thinking about. At the time I hadn't realized what the guts of the badge were in the first place. Now I know that yes, it's an Atmega 88PA, quite literally in the model with eight kilobytes a Flash, versus 16 or 32 as seen in Ardinos. Same amount of I/O and other features, just less storage.

To my surprise I never did actually buy one of those badges. I would think by now I know enough to be able to dump the firmware (assuming it's not protected). Not as excited about the project and more (platformer on a badge), but hey, knowlege progress is still progress.

I feel like I still have a lot to learn when it comes to choosing resistors, transistors, capacitors, and diodes, but I at least have an idea now what I'm looking for._________________Mike Kasprzak
'eh whatever. I used to make AAA and Indie games | Ludum Dare | Blog | Tweetar